poetry, prose, and musings

Tag Archives: humanity

She watched them on the treadmills
and stairmasters
jaws set and eyes fixed ahead
moving rapidly nowhere
hoisting weights and snapping ropes
rowing in place on the cement floor
muscles grateful for the challenge
and reprieve from ergonomically designed chairs and desks
protein shakes clutched in hand as they exited
carefully temperature controlled buildings
and navigated the short walk
to their cars

Life lived in comfortable box after box
everything easily accessible

She sometimes wondered
if we are happier and healthier now
then when we woke and hunted
breakfast by climbing the hill
in search of berries or rabbit
watched the sunrise from
the banks of rivers
as we collected water
diving in and swimming when warm

Vaccinated to safety
we view our world through windows
we run in place
breathe the purified air
eyes fixed for 100 years
to the screen ahead

The doves woke me
cooing outside my window and calling me out
they weren’t crying but singing in celebration
another morning
of a day that could bring both rain and rainbows
one dependent on the existence of the other

We stand so small on this spinning sphere
generating a light that can be seen from space
feeling like captains when we are only passengers
mourning each loss of luminance
as if it might plunge us into pitch
too close to one another to see we remain ablaze
even though our course is inevitable

She wished
that she wished
she could punch someone
slash tires
key a side
short the sheets
serve plates of ex-lax brownies
unleash it all
in massive waves of malevolence
cleanse with flames
of blameless ire

Instead
she’d long suffered
from immoderate empathy
terminal humanity
and a frustrating predilection
for cheek turning
which
she was certain
failed to provide genuine closure
and was undoubtedly less satisfying
then hobbling ankles with hammers
or blooming heads on spikes

This morning
a girl went into the hospital
with her aunt
they put on paper gowns
were wheeled into operating rooms
masks placed on their faces
anesthetized
cut open
a kidney extracted
from the aunt
and sewn into her niece